Rabin Says He’d ‘Never’ Give Up Land Won in ’67

Yitzhak Rabin, characterized by critics as a dovish candidate for Israeli prime minister, countered that image Sunday as he told a local audience that he would “never” support giving up territories won by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War.

“I was the last (army) chief of staff to defend Israel from lines drawn before the Six Day War,” Rabin told about 300 people in a speech at Temple Bat Yahm.

“I’ll never forget (that) we saw Arabs one mile from Jerusalem,” he said.

Yet while the 70-year-old Rabin projected himself as tough on security, he still stressed flexibility in negotiation with the Palestinians. Specifically, he said Israel should live up to earlier promises of autonomy made to the Palestinians.

Rabin made his stop in Newport Beach as part of a nationwide speaking tour that was scheduled before his ascension last month to the leadership of Israel’s Labor Party. Since that development, he has used his U.S. appearances to raise funds for his current bid to unseat Yitzhak Shamir as prime minister, a post that Rabin formerly held.

The tour comes at a time when the American Jewish community has been torn by increasing friction between the U.S. government and Israel over such pivotal issues as the future of the West Bank settlements.

And while the Newport Beach audience applauded Rabin’s statements of strength, many also appeared to approve of his middle-ground stance. Rabin received several standing ovations.

“Everybody is looking for a little bit of a way out,” said congregation member Michael Lapin.

Rabin, who is considered a Bush Administration favorite for his willingness to compromise, also stressed in his speech that Israel should remain independent of foreign elements.

“We have to defend ourselves by ourselves,” he said. “There is no need for anyone to advise us.”

Israel is in a unique position to achieve this goal, he said, as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had supported Israel’s enemies militarily.

In his wide-ranging speech, Rabin also said more attention should be given to finding jobs for Jews leaving the former Soviet Union. Immigration dropped sharply in February, he said, due to negative images on the prospects for unemployment.

Last month Rabin was elected head of Israel’s Labor Party, becoming the strongest candidate to unseat the more hawkish Shamir in the scheduled general election in June.

He has rejected a complete freeze on settlement activity, saying he approves of the settlements as a means of defending Israel’s borders and its capital city. But he says he would cut back sharply on new construction in the occupied territories.

Money spent on settlement building would be put to better use in helping Soviet immigrants, Rabin says.

Rabin has long been a major force in Israeli politics and the military.

A war hero, he commanded an elite military unit in Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, and served as the army’s chief of staff during the Six Day War.

From 1968 to 1973, Rabin was Israel’s ambassador to the United States, after which he became prime minister. He quit in 1977, admitting partial responsibility for an illegal foreign bank account held by his wife.

He remained active in foreign affairs and in 1984 was appointed minister of defense, a post he held until Shamir took over leadership of the Israeli government in 1990.